On 11 august 1963, he together with harold wolpe, abdulhay jassat and moosa mosie moolla escaped from jail by bribing a guard, and fled the country. There is not a single material allegation in the opening address that has not been proved. This recording was made on the start of the rivonia trial, which saw mister nelson mandela and seven other men penalized with a livelong jail sentence for. The charges in what is often called the rivonia trial for the johannesburg suburb that was the location of the hideout for a militant wing of the african national congress were sabotage and conspiracy, and there was little doubt that but that mandela and most of the other defendants would be found guilty. Among others, nelson mandela had moved onto the farm in october. The initiative is part of the history workshops programme on the everyday and public history, focusing on everyday experiences and practices of. The accused include nelson mandela, who was one of the accused. Mandela statement during the rivonia trial 1964 our fight is against real, and not imaginary, hardships, or to use the language of the state prosecutor, socalled hardships.
The earliest public transport into johannesburg was by donkey cart, later by bus. Closing arguments began in the rivonia trial on may 20. This material has been uploaded to wikicommons by the nelson mandela foundation. The rivonia trial rivonia is a township near johannesburg where most of the nine accused in the trial were arrested on 11th july 1963 on premises described by the police as revolutionary headquarters of the african national congress. Liliesleaf was the name of the farm in the district of rivonia on the northern outskirts of johannesburg. He has just published a book, titled young man with a red tie. Nelson mandela had masqueraded as a cook and gardener. The rivonia trial and the fate of south africa pivotal moments in world history kindle edition by broun, kenneth s download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This database, and the records audit on which it is built, constitutes a first step towards documenting the archive. The rivonia trial and the fate of south africa pdf our website was launched using a aspire to function as a comprehensive on the internet computerized library that provides access to many pdf file archive catalog.
The rivonia trial 50 years on watson institute for. It recounts his escape to avoid testifying against the rivonia trialists. The rivonia trial and the fate of south africa book. Fifty years after rivonia, law and the courtroom continued to be the prominent, even the preeminent. The rivonia trial was named after rivonia, the suburb of johannesburg where leaders had been arrested and documents discovered at liliesleaf farm, privately owned by arthur goldreich, on 11 july 1963. Rivonia trial papers, struggles for freedom on jstor. The rivonia trial was not about apartheid it was about murders committed at the hands of nelson mandela and others. Various people and groups, including the african national congress, had been using the farm as a hideout. The underground anc and its ally, the illegal communist party, formed umkhonto we sizwe mk and began. I make bold to say that every particular allegation in the indictment has been proved. Despite this exemption, people still feared quoting him. Synopsis mandela defends the actions of the paramilitary group umkhonto we sizwe by describing african life under apartheid.
This trial was made after the police raid on the mk base in rivonia, which showed documents of relations to the 10 accused men one of the was future president of. Defence case in the rivonia trial pretoria supreme court, south africa 20th april, 1964 i am the first accused. Rivonia trial transcript nelson mandela walter sisulu. Basically, we fight against two features which are the hallmarks of african life in south africa and which are entrenched by legislation which we seek to have. The rivonia trial took its name from rivonia, the suburb of johannesburg where leaders had been arrested and documents discovered at liliesleaf farm, privately owned by arthur goldreich, on 11 july 1963. Rivonia lies between the braamfontein spruit and the sandspruit, and was the location of liliesleaf farm, where in 1963 many of the accused in the rivonia treason trial were arrested. It is all the more powerful as a contemporary document for the insight it offers into the implications of the trial. Extracts from nelson mandelas statement from the dock at the opening of his trial on charges of sabotage at the supreme court of south africa in pretoria on 20 april 1964. Sentencing of the rivonia trialists on 12 june 1964 judge. That is the message of this book so writes the minister of justice, the hon. Link to the website of the centre for child law, coamicus with ee in this case. The trial began in december 1963 and the verdicts were rendered in july 1964. Nelson mandela full speech at start rivonia trial 20. The aim of the partnership is to engage the rivonia audio trial from a creative perspective and produce an artwork that will be part of the launch of the mandela week at the nmf on 20 september 2018.
In this book the mask is torn away to reveal the face of the monster with which we are confronted. It is a story told with simplicity and eloquence, stripped of the legal jargon that often mystifies the reader. Among others, nelson mandela had moved onto the farm in october 1961 and. Rivonia primary school respondent heads of argument.
Rivonia was a suburb of johannesburg where the ten defendants secretly met and hid on a farm. The final words in his fourandahalfhourlong speech at the rivonia trial have become the stuff of legend in the. The rivonia trial 50 years on 3 university of pretoria. The rivonia trial had no jury and only a superficial aura of due process, combined with heavy security that symbolized the apartheid governments system of repression. This book carefully documents the evidence from the rivonia trial. On 11 july 1963, police raided lilisleaf farm at rivonia near johannesburg, arresting alleged members of the high command of umkhonto we sizwe, the armed wing of the african national congress anc. For the liberation movement, it represented a blow. The farm had been used as a hideout for the african national congress and others. Broun shows how outstanding advocacy, combined with widespread public support, in fact backfired on apartheid leaders, who sealed their own fate. Simply enter a keyword or phrase in the search box, and click the go button. An opinion piece on the court case was written by doron isaacs and lisa draga was published in the star on 9 may 20. This paper presents new information about these complex and myriad historical events.
I hold a bachelors degree in arts and practised as an attorney in johannesburg for a number of years in partnership with oliver tambo. The rivonia trial was a trial that took place in south africa between 1963 and 1964. Events in history at the time of the speechthe speech in focus source for. The treason trial, held from 1956 to 1961, the mandela trial of 1962, and the rivonia trial of 19631964 give depth and scope to the contemporary events in south africa. This searches the entire database, and gives you the highest possible number of results. This trial was held after the police raid on the mk base in rivonia, where documents related to the 10 accused men were found. Ethnically they were 3 jews, 2 indians and the rest black. The rivonia trial began on 9 october 1963, and was. The rivonia trial, named after the suburb of johannesburg where sixteen leaders of the african national congress had been arrested in july 1963, began on 26 november 1963. The rivonia trial, arguably the most significant political trial in south african history, generated a vast archive, ranging from the official court records to media coverage of the trial. After the african national congress anc and pan africanist congress were outlawed in april 1960, opponents of the apartheid government increasingly turned to violent resistance.
Ten leaders of the african national congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system. Together with the already imprisoned nelson mandela, they were put on trial and charged with conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government by. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading saving nelson mandela. The rivonia trial and the fate of south africa pivotal moments in. His record of the trial, therefore, can take us inside the courtroom as well as into the corridors of the courtroom and prison cells. Download pdf fromprotesttochallenge free online new. It is part of the rivonia trial prosecution papers we offer the wikipedia community an opportunity to explore, through mandelas own hand, the journey he took to several african countries and to london before he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Rivonia trial 1 rivonia trial name institutional affiliation rivonia. Rusty bernstein, accused no 6, was acquitted in the rivonia trial, but arrested again soon after and released on bail. Not only must we get to know who our enemy is, we must also render him harmless.
766 1223 947 1045 973 1156 1361 213 1099 758 529 743 467 1354 964 546 16 1163 678 1075 401 993 941 1114 102 1270 1171 776 528 851 294 1316 1479 1179 174 850 1162 70 1275 513 1451 1417 1255 632 1452 327